Photo: Brenton Sloane
A languages teacher from Gungahlin College has drawn national and international attention for her award-winning short stories.
Angela Rega (pictured) began writing her stories more than 10 years ago. At that time they were for her eyes only. She never imagined she would get national attention for them.
With 25 short stories now published around Australia and the world and her work shortlisted for multiple awards, she can’t escape the attention.
Ms Rega said she always wanted to write: “It is wonderful to have been recognised — I still kind of can’t believe it.”
Her novella, With This Needle I Thee Thread, was this year shortlisted for Best Horror Novella in the national Aurealis Awards that seek to recognise the achievements of Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror writers.
With This Needle I Thee Thread, which was published in the anthology Aurum, has also been shortlisted for the Norma K. Hemming Award.
This award focuses on excellence in the exploration of themes of race, gender, sexuality, class or disability in Australian speculative fiction works.
Ms Rega also channels her literary enthusiasm into a Gungahlin College student creative writing group.
“I like to share the love of writing with the students, and I regularly bring authors into the school to talk to them,” she said.
The group has already seen its first publication success, with one student having had a ‘flash fiction’ story published in AntipodeanSF magazine.
Ms Rega slots her writing in between her teaching duties and her creative writing group — but she’s showing no signs of slowing down.
Her Nielma Sidney Short Story Prize runner-up story, Paper Boats, will be published in June. There is also a ‘fairytale’ novel in the pipeline.
